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Paganism is about honoring the place and time in which one finds oneself. To observe time, calendrical festivals are celebrated; to observe place, they are associated with where one finds oneself. In American Paganism, this is, of course, America.
Modern Pagans tend to celebrate the eight holy days of Wicca: the solstices, the equinoxes, and the cross-quarter days. Many also celebrate the full moon, and some the new moon. If you add them up, you get thirty-four days a year (assuming thirteen lunar months).
Compared to ancient Rome, the source of so much that’s American, this is surprisingly impoverished. In every one of the twelve months alone, three days, originally linked to lunar phases, were observed. There were, however, many other days, connected either with seasons or with historical events. Some of these, like anniversaries of the foundings of temples, were celebrated by only a few people, perhaps a single family whose ancestors were the founders. Many of the others, however, were celebrated by the people as a whole. It sometimes seems as if every day was celebrated in some way.
American Pagans can follow this pattern. Since American Paganism is centered so strongly on the ancestors and historical events, it will be days connected with those that would be celebrated. Cultural ones, such as Christmas and Easter (celebrated using secular customs) could be added, to place one’s practice in American culture as a whole.
I’ve therefore constructed the following calendar according to those principles. It follows certain rules. No events connected with anyone living have been marked. Even if it’s connected with the reverence of the ancestors, American Paganism isn’t a cult of personality. Except in a few cases where it seemed appropriate, birth days have been marked rather than death days. I’ve given few details on each person and event honored; finding them out is left as an exercise for the reader.
Some of these days are clearly not ones to be “celebrated,” but rather “observed.” Some are of tragedies, and some are of events that may be seen as simply undesirable. Nevertheless, we don't get to choose our history, so we have to pay attention to bad things as well as good ones.
Other days may seem insignificant to many. However, we each have our own interests and concerns. For instance, a particular person being born may be irrelevant to you, but very important to someone working in their field.
There are many ways these days can be observed. The birthdays of poets and writers can be honored through reading some of their works. Some events have movies associated with them that can be watched, such as Tora! Tora! Tora! for Pearl Harbor Day. These observations can easily be worked into short rituals, such as the lighting of incense in a shrine.
This list is hardly exhaustive, and you may well come up with events that you think belong on it. If so, I urge you both to include them in your own practice, and to send me an e-mail about them so I can add them to this calendar. American Paganism is an idea which is still in its infancy, and we can all participate in its growth.
January
3rd Monday – Martin Luther King Day
Sometime between January 21 and February 19 (the first new moon after the sun has left the sign of Capricorn and entered Aquarius) – Chinese New Year.
1 New Year’s Day; Paul Revere born (1735); Jefferson writes letter to the Danbury CT Baptist Association in which he used the phrase “a wall of separation between church and state” (1802); Congress bans importation of slaves (1808); Emancipation Proclamation (1863); Arrival of first immigrants at Ellis Island (1892).
2 Georgia enters the Union (1788); Free blacks in Philadelphia submit a petition to Congress to end slavery (1800); First censuring of a US Senator (1811).
3 Birth of Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793); Alaska admitted to the Union (1959); New Congress convenes (every two years).
4 Battle of Princeton (1777); U.S. Stock Exchange opens (1865); Utah enters the Union (1896).
5 George Washington Carver born (1864); Nellie Taylor Ross was is sworn in as the governor of Wyoming, the first female governor in the United States (1925).
6 New England Anti-Slavery Society founded (1832); Carl Sandburg born (1878); New Mexico enters the Union (1912).
7 Millard Fillmore born (1800).
8 France offers alliance (1778); Battle of New Orleans, last battle between the United States and Great Britain (Celebrated in Louisiana as “Jackson Day”) (1815); Congress overrides presidential veto to give vote to all males in DC, including blacks (1867); Richard Nixon born (1913); Woodrow Wilson announces 14 points (1918); Elvis Presley born (1935).
9 British Parliament declares that Massachusetts is in rebellion (1775); Connecticut ratifies the Constitution (1788); Richard Nixon born (1913).
10 Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense (1776)
11 First elected Jew in North America, SC Provincial Congress (1775)
12 John Hancock born (1737); Hattie W. Caraway of Arkansas becomes the first woman to be elected as senator (1932).
13 L. Douglas Wilder is sworn in as the governor of VA, the first elected black governor (1990).
14 First colonial constitution, Connecticut (1639); Ratification of Treaty of Paris by Continental Congress by Maryland, ending the Revolutionary War (1784);.
15 Martin Luther King, Jr. born (1929).
16 Continental Congress votes to allow the enlistment of black soldiers (1776); Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom adopted (1786); Eighteenth Amendment ratified (1919).
17 Benjamin Franklin born (1706).
18 Thomas A. Watson born (1854); Oliver Hardy (1892) born.
19 Edgar Allen Poe born (1809).
20 Inauguration Day (every four years).
21
22
23 John Hancock born (1737); Elizabeth Blackwell becomes first woman to earn a medical degree (1849); 24th Amendment ratified (1964), 20th Amendment ratified (1933).
24 Discovery of gold at Sutter’s mill, setting off the California gold rush (1848); Maria Tallchief born (1925).
25 Reporter Nellie Bly arrives in New York City, having traveled around the world in less than 80 days: 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, 14 seconds (1890).
26 Michigan enters Union (1837); Massachusetts authorizes the formation of the first black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry (1863); Signing of peace agreement ending Vietnam War (1973).
27 Apollo 1 fire (1967), Senate investigation of FBI and CIA begins (1975).
28 Challenger explodes (1986).
29 Thomas Paine born (1736); Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” is published (1845); Kansas enters the Union (1861); William McKinley born (1843); 18th Amendment ratified (1919).
30 Franklin D. Roosevelt born (1882).
31 Jackie Robinson born (1919).
February
Black History Month.
Super Bowl Sunday – First Sunday.
Presidents’ Day – Third Monday.
1 First session of the Supreme Court opens (1790); National Freedom Day (Lincoln signs joint resolution proposing the 13th Amendment) (1865); Langston Hughes born (1902).
2 Groundhog Day; Mexican War ends with Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago, making the United States stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific (1848).
3 15th Amendment ratified (1870), 16th Amendment ratified (1913).
4 Tadeusz Kosciuszko born (1746); George Washington elected first president (1789); 24th Amendment ratified (1964).
5 Roger Williams arrives in Boston (1631).
6 France allies itself with the United States in the Revolutionary War (1778); Massachusetts ratifies the Constitution (1788); 20th Amendment ratified (1933); Ronald Reagan born (1911).
7 11th Amendment ratified (1795); Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie series, born (1867).
8 Boy Scout Day.
9 William Henry Harrison born (1773); US Weather Service founded (1870); McCarthy witch hunt begins when he announces that he has a list of State Department officials he calls communists (1950).
10 French and Indian War ends (1763); 25th Amendment ratified (1967);.
11 First hospital in America founded (1751); Thomas Edison born (1847); Emma Goldman arrested in New York City for giving a lecture on birth control (1916).
12 Abraham Lincoln born (1809).
13 National Negro Baseball League founded (1920).
14 Valentine’s Day, Frederick Douglas born (1817/1818); Oregon enters the Union (1859); Arizona enters the Union (1912).
15 Susan B. Anthony born (1820); Sinking of the USS Maine (1898).
16 Gallaudet University (originally called the National Deaf Mute College) founded (1857).
17 Thomas Jefferson elected president by the House of Representatives after a tie in the Electoral College and thirty-five ballots in the House (1701).
18 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn published (1885).
19 Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, establishing Japanese internment camps (1942).
20 Metropolitan Museum of Arts opens in New York (1872); John Glenn orbits the earth (1962).
21 Washington Monument dedicated (1885), Nixon visits China (1972).
22 George Washington born (1732).
23 W. E. Dubois born (1868); 25th Amendment ratified (1967).
24 In Marbury vs. Madison, the Supreme Court establishes the principle of judicial review (1803).
25 16th Amendment ratified (1913).
26 Buffalo Bill born (1846); Founding of Grand Canyon National Park (1919).
27 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow born (1807); 22nd Amendment ratified (1951).
28 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is chartered as the first American railroad (1827).
29 Leap Year day
March
First Monday – Casimir Pulaski Day (Celebrated in Illinois).
Spring Equinox
1 Beginning of the Salem witch trials (1692); Ohio enters the Union (1803); Nebraska enters the Union (1867); Blanche Kelso Bruce, first black to complete a term in the US Senate, born (1841); Yellowstone National Park established (1872); Peace Corps founded (1961).
2 Texas Independence Day (1836); Dr. Seuss born (1904);.
3 Florida enters the Union (1845); Alexander Graham Bell born (1847).
4 Charter Day (Charles II grants charter to William Penn to found Pennsylvania, 1681); Vermont enters the Union (1791).
5 Boston massacre (1770).
6 Battle of the Alamo ends (1836).
7 March from Selma to Montgomery (1965).
8 Supreme Court declares religious education in public schools to be in violation of the Constitution (1948); International Women's Day.
9 Supreme Court hands down decision freeing the survivors of the mutiny on the Amistad (1841).
10 Invention of the telephone (1876).
11 Janet Reno confirmed by the Senate(1993).
12 Andrew Carnegie donates money to New York City for libraries (1901).
13 Standard Time established (1884); Kitty Genovese murdered (1964).
14 John F. Kennedy buried at Arlington National Cemetery (1967); Norman Thagard becomes the first American launched into space on a Russian rocket (1995).
15 Andrew Jackson born (1767); Maine enters the Union (1820).
16 James Madison born (1751); Robert Goddard launches first liquid-fueled rocket (1926).
17 St. Patrick’s Day; Evacuation Day (British leave Boston, 1776).
18 Grover Cleveland born (1837).
19 Williams Jennings Bryan born (1860).
20
21 San Jacinto Day (the battle of San Jacinto, which won independence for Texas, 1836).
22
23 Patrick Henry gives “Give me liberty or give me death” speech (1775).
24
25 Maryland Day (commemorates first landing of settlers in Maryland, 1634); Gutzom Borglum born (1871).
26 Robert Frost born (1874); Sandra Day O’Connor born (1930).
27
28
29 Swedish Colonial Day (first permanent European settlement in Delaware) (1638); John Tyler born (1790); 23rd Amendment ratified (1961).
30 15th Amendment ratified (1870).
31 Cesar Chavez born (1927).
April
Beginning of Daylight Saving Time.
Last Friday (Generally) – Arbor Day
Third Monday – Celebration of Patriot’s Day (Battles of Lexington and Concord).
1 April Fools’ Day.
2 Pascua Day (Discovery of Florida by Ponce de Leon) (1513); Beginning of the battle of Petersburg (1865).
3 Florida enters the Union (1845).
4 Martin Luther King assassinated (1968).
5 Robert Smalls born (1839).
6 US enters WWI (1917).
7 Billie Holiday born (1915).
8 17th Amendment ratified (1913).
9 First Public Library in America opened (1833); Surrender of Lee to Grant (1865).
10 First Arbor Day (1872).
11
12 Fort Sumter attacked (1861).
13 Thomas Jefferson born (1743).
14 Pan American Day; Assassination of Lincoln (1865).
15 Tax Day.
16 Lincoln outlaws slavery in DC (1862).
17 Thornton Wilder born (1987).
18 Rides of Paul Revere, et al. (1775); San Francisco earthquake (1906).
19 Battles of Lexington and Concord (1775).
20
21
22 Oklahoma Day (Oklahoma territory opened for settlement, 1889); Earth Day.
23 James Buchanan born (1791).
24 Founding of the Library of Congress (1800).
25 Spanish-American War begins (1898), Ella Fitzgerald born (1918).
26 John Audubon born.
27 Ulysses S. Grant born (1822).
28 James Monroe born (1758); Maryland enters the Union (1788).
29 Duke Ellington born (1899).
30 Washington delivers the first inaugural address (1789); Louisiana enters the Union (1803).
May
Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.
Tuesday in first full week – National Teacher’s Day.
Second Sunday – Mothers’ Day.
Third Saturday – Armed Forces Day.
Last Monday – Memorial Day.
1 May Day; Law Day; Loyalty Day; Joseph Heller born (1923); Empire State building opens (1931); International Workers' Day.
2
3
4 Rhode Island declares independence (1776); Vermont enters the Union (1791).
5 Nellie Bly born (1867); John Scopes arrested for teaching evolution (1925); first American space flight (1961); 27th Amendment ratified (1992).
6 Nurse’s Day.
7 Sinking of the Lusitania (1915).
8 VE Day (1945); Harry S Truman born (1884).
9 “Join or Die,” the first American political cartoon, published in The Pennsylvania Gazette (1754); John Brown born (1800).
10 Completion of the first transcontinental railway (1869).
11 Minnesota enters the Union (1858).
12
13 The first soldier, a Confederate prisoner, buried in Arlington National Cemetery (1864).
14 Founding of Jamestown (1607).
15 Peace Officers Memorial Day; L. Frank Baum born (1856).
16 Senate votes on impeachment of Andrew Johnson (1868).
17 First Kentucky Derby (1865); Brown vs. the Board of Education (1964).
18 In Plessy vs. Ferguson, Supreme Court rules that “separate but equal” violates the Fourteenth Amendment (1896); 16th Amendment ratified (1992).
19 Malcolm X born (1925).br>
20 Dolly Payne Madison born (1768); Death of Marquis de Lafayette (1834); Amelia Earhart becomes first woman to fly solo (1932).
21 Charles Lindbergh arrives in Paris (1927).
22 National Maritime Day (Commemorates first ocean voyage of a steamship (1819), honors Merchant Marines in general).
23 South Carolina ratifies the Constitution (1788).
24
25 Ralph Waldo Emerson born (1803); Bill “Bojangles” Robinson born (1878).
26
27 Julia Ward Howe born (1819).
28 Jim Thorpe born (1888).
29 Patrick Henry born (1736); Rhode Island ratifies the Constitution (1790); Wisconsin enters the Union (1848); John F. Kennedy born (1917).
30 Lincoln Memorial dedicated (1922)
31 Walt Whitman born (1819); 17th Amendment ratified (1913).
June
Summer Solstice.
Third Sunday – Fathers’ Day.
Last Sunday – Gay and Lesbian Pride Day.
LGTBQ Pride Month
1 Tennessee enters the Union (1796); Kentucky enters the Union (1792).
2 American Indians given citizenship (1924).
3 Charles Richard Drew born.
4 Approval of women’s suffrage amendment by Congress (1919).
5 Uncle Tom’s Cabin published (1851); 26 Amendment ratified (1971).
6 D-Day (1944).
7 Gwendolyn Brooks born (1917).
8 Frank Lloyd Wright born (1867).
9
10 Maurice Sendak born (1928).
11 John Quincy Adams born (1767); Kamehameha Day (1810); Jeannette Rankin born (1880).
12 George H. W. Bush born (1924).
13 Miranda decision (1966).
14 Flag Day.
15 Washington resigns as Commander-in-Chief (1775); Separation Day (Delaware votes to separate from Great Britain, 1776); Arkansas enters the Union (1836); Idaho Pioneer Day (commemorates founding of Franklin, first town in Idaho; 1860).
16
17 Battle of Bunker Hill (1775).
18 War of 1812 declared.
19 Juneteenth; Statue of Liberty arrives from France (1885).
20 Great Seal adopted (1782); West Virginia enters the Union (1863).
21 New Hampshire is the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, ratifying it as a whole (1788).
22
23 Last surrender of an army in the Civil War (1865); Bob Fosse born (1927).
24 Challenger lands, carrying Sally Ride, first American woman in space (1983).
25 Custer’s Last Stand (1876); Virginia enters the Union (1788).
26 Beginning of the Berlin airlift (1948); Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech (1963)
27 Founding of the Smithsonian Institute (1829); Hellen Keller born (1880).
28 Signing of the Treaty of Versailles, ending WWI (1919).
29
30
July
1 26th Amendment ratified (1971).
1 – 3 Battle of Gettysburg (1863).
2 Vote for Independence (1776).
3 Washington takes command of the Continental Army (1776); Jack Jouett Day (celebrated in Virginia) (1781); George M. Cohan born (1878); Idaho enters the Union (1890).
4 Independence Day; Calvin Coolidge born (1872).
5
6 George W. Bush born (1946).
7 Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige born (1906).
8 Liberty Bell cracks (1835); Stock Market falls to its lowest Depression level (1932).
9 14th Amendment ratified (1868).
10 Wyoming enters the Union (1890).
11 John Quincy Adams born (1767); Aaron Burr kills Alexander Hamilton in a duel (1804).
12 Henry David Thoreau born (1817).
13 John Parker, leader of the Minutemen, born (1729); Frank Sinatra records his first songs, “From the Bottom of my Heart” and “Melancholy Mood” (1939).
14 Gerald Ford born (1913).
15 Arkansas enters the Union (1836).
16 Washington, DC, declared national capital (1790); First atomic bomb exploded (1945).
17
18 Ty Cobb gets his 4000th hit (1927).
19 The first Women’s Rights Convention opens (1848).
20 First Moon landing (1969).
21 First Battle of Bull Run (1861); Ernest Hemingway born (1899); Neil Armstrong first walks on the moon (1969).
22 Emma Lazurus born (1849).
23 Invention of the ice cream cone (1904).
24 Amelia Earhart borns (1898).
25 Puerto Rico becomes a commonwealth.
26 New York approves the Constitution (1788).
27
28 14th Amendment ratified (1868).
29
30 Henry Ford born (1863).
31 First federal patent issued (1790).
August
First Monday – Colorado Day (commemorates the day Colorado entered the Union; actual date Aug. 1).
Third Friday – Hawaii Statehood Day (commemorates the day Hawaii entered the Union; actual date August 21).
1 Colorado enters the Union (1876).
2 James Baldwin born (1924).
3 Christopher Columbus sets sail (1492).
4 Barack Obama born (1961).
5
6 Cy Young pitches his first game (1890); bombing of Hiroshima (1945).
7
8
9 Bombing of Nagasaki (1945); Nixon resigns as president (1974).
10 Missouri enters the Union (1821); Herbert Hoover born (1874).
11
12 Thomas Edison invents phonograph (1877); End of Spanish-American War (1898).
13
14 Liberty Tree Day (placement of two effigies in tree in Boston, creating the first Liberty Tree, 1765); VJ Day (1945).
15
16
17 Bunker Hill Day (1775); Davy Crockett born (1786).
18 19th Amendment ratified (1920).
19 British burn Washington, DC (1814); National Aviation Day.
20 Benjamin Harrison born (1833).
21 Hawaii enters the Union (1959).
22
23
24 British troops enter Washington (1814).
25
26 John Fitch granted patent for steamboats (1791); Women’s Suffrage Day – 19th Amendment certified by Secretary of State as having been ratified (1920).
27 Lyndon Johnson born (1908).
28 Ten suffragists picketing White House are arrested (1917); “I have a dream” speech (1963); March on Washington for jobs and freedom (1963).
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30
31
September
National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sep. 15 – Oct. 15).
Fall Equinox.
First Monday – Labor Day.
s
Fourth Friday – American Indian Day (in most states; others vary).
Last Sunday – Gold Star Mother’s Day.
1 Phillis Wheatley’s poems published (1773); Boston’s subway system opens (1897).
2 Queen Liliuokalani born.
3 Treaty of Paris signed (1783); Frederick Douglas escapes from slavery (1838).
4 Massachusetts Assembly requires loyalty oaths (1775); Arkansas National Guard called out to prevent black students from entering high school in Little Rock (1957).
5 First session of the Continental Congress (1774); First Labor Day (1882).
6 Pilgrims set sail (1620); Assassination of McKinley (1901).
7 Grandma Moses born (1869).
8 “Pledge of Allegiance” first published (1892).
9 Beginning of the slave revolt of the Stono Rebellion (1739); “United Colonies” renamed “United States” (1776); California enters Union (1850).
10
11 Patriot Day – In memory of 2001.
12 Bill of Rights proposed (1787); H. L. Mencken born (1880); Jesse Owens born (1913)..
13 Roger Williams expelled from Salem (1635); “Star Spangled Banner” composed (1814).
14
15 British occupy New York (1776); William Howard Taft born (1857); Four girls are murdered in an explosion at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama (1963).
16 The Mayflower sets sail (1620).
17 Signing of the Constitution (1787); Battle of Antietam (1862); Citizenship Day.
18 Cornerstone of Capitol laid by Washington (1793).
19 First Battle of Saratoga (1777).
20 Slave Trade abolished in the District of Columbia (1850).
21 Publication of The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, America’s first newspaper (1784); the Senate confirms Sandra Day O’Connor’s appointment to the Supreme Court (1981).
22 Nathan Hale hanged (1776); Emancipation Proclamation issued (1862).
23 John Paul Jones captures a British fleet of 17 ships (1779); Treaty of Paris confirmed (1783).
24 F. Scott Fitzgerald born (1896); President Eisenhower sends federal troops to Arkansas to permit the entry of black students into high school there (1957).
25 12th Amendment ratified (1804).
26 Jonathan Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) born (1775); T. S. Eliot born (1888).
27 Samuel Adams born (1722); Warren Report released (1964).
28 Siege at Yorktown begins (1781); Congress approves Constitution (1787).
29 Creation of the United States army (1789).
30
October
Hispanic Heritage Month (Sep. 15 – Oct 15).
First Monday – Supreme Court convenes.
Second Sunday – Children’s Day.
Second Monday – Columbus Day.
Third Monday – Alaska Day (Commemorates the day Alaska transferred to United States (actual day Oct. 18)).
Third Saturday – The Sweetest Day
Daylight Saving Time ends.
1 British troops arrive in Boston (1768); First game of first World Series (1903); Model T introduced (1908); Jimmy Carter born (1924).
2 Nat Turner born (1800); New York Anti-Slavery Society founded (1833); Thurgood Marshall, first black member of the Supreme Court, sworn in (1967).
3 “Captain Kangaroo” and “The Mickey Mouse Club” are first broadcast (1955); the Immigration Reform Act of 1965 abolishes national quotas for immigration (1965).
4 The General Court of Plymouth Colony issues a legal code, the first composed in North America (1636); Rutherford B. Hayes born (1822).
5 Chester A. Arthur born (1829); Chief Joseph surrenders (1877).
6 “The Jazz Singer” opens (1927).
7 Second Battle of Saratoga (1777).
8 The Great Chicago Fire (1871).
9 Roger Williams banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony (1635); Washington Monument opened (1888); Lief Erikson Day.
10 Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment born (1837); United States Naval School begins its first term (1845).
11 Eleanor Roosevelt born (1884).
12 First sighting of land in New World by sailor of Pinta (1942).
13 Molly Pitcher (Mary McCauley) born (1754); Founding of the US Navy (1775); Cornerstone of the White House laid (1792).
14 William Penn born (1644); Dwight D. Eisenhower born (1890); Chuck (Charles E.) Yeager breaks the sound barrier (1947).
15 Jackie Robinson becomes first black to play Major League Baseball (1972).
16 Noah Webster born (1758); Battle of Harper’s Ferry (1859).
18 12th Amendment officially recognized by Secretary of State (1865).
19 British surrender at Yorktown (1781); Elizabeth Blackwell becomes first women MD in US (1849).
20 Louisiana Purchase approved by Congress (1803); House Un-American Activities Committee holds first session (1947).
21 Thomas Edison invents the electric light bulb (1879); Last of the Nixon-Kennedy debates (1960).
22 President John F. Kennedy imposes blockade on Cuba (1962).
23 Virginia emancipates slaves who fought in the Revolutionary War (1784).
24 Transcontinental telegraph system begins (1861); United Nations founded (1945).
25 John and Abigail Adams married (1764); Richard Byrd born (1888).
26 Minute Men organized (1774); Erie Canal opens (1825); Illinois Anti-Slavery Society founded (1837); Mahalia Jackson born (1911); New York Public Library opens (1911).
27 First of the “Federalist Papers” published (1787); Theodore Roosevelt born (1858).
28 Dedication of the Statue of Liberty (1886); end of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) .
29 Stock Market crashes (1929); National Organization for Women founded (1966).
30 John Adams born (1735); Broadcast of “War of the Worlds” (1938).
31 Nevada enters the Union (1864); Halloween.
November
Tuesday on or after the 2nd – Election day.
Third Thursday – Thanksgiving.
1 The White House becomes the residence of the President (1800); Library of Congress opens to the public (1897).
2 Daniel Boone born (1734); Continental Army disbanded (1783); James Polk born (1795); Warren G. Harding born (1865); North Dakota and South Dakota enter the Union (1889).
3
4 Will Rogers born (1879).
5 First colonial post office founded (1639); John Hanson elected first president, while the US is under the Articles of Confederation (1781); Susan B. Anthony fined $100 for trying to vote in a presidential election (1872).
6 John Philip Sousa born (1854); Rutgers beats Princeton, 6-4, in first intercollegiate football game (1869).
7 Anne Hutchinson expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony (1637); Elijah Parish Lovejoy, publisher of the anti-slavery newspaper The Saint Louis Observer, is killed by a pro-slavery mob (1837); Jeannette Rankin (Montana) is elected to Congress, making her the first woman to be so (1916).
8 Montana enters the Union (1821); Mt. Holyoke, the first women’s college, opens in South Hadley, Massachusetts (1837); John F. Kennedy elected (1960).
9
10 Britain and the US sign a treaty banning slave trade (1842); The commander at Andersonville, Henry Wirz, is hanged (1865); the Berlin Wall is torn down (1989).
11 Mayflower Compact signed (1620); Washington enters the Union (1889); Veterans’ Day.
12 Elizabeth Cady Stanton born (1815); Ellis Island closed (1954).
13 “Star Spangled Banner” written (1814); Vietnam Memorial dedicated (1982).
14 Robert Fulton born (1765); Caesar Tarren emancipated by the Virginia legislature for his service in the navy during the Revolutionary War (1786); Aaron Copland born (1900);.
15 Approval of the Articles of Confederation by Congress (1777).
16 Oklahoma enters the Union (1907).
17 Congress holds first session in Washington (1800); Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean (1805); Stephen S. Foster born (1809).
18 Maine Anti-Slavery Society founded (1833); Time zones established (1883); Steamboat Willie released (1929).
19 James Garfield born (1831); Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address (1863).
20 Opening of Nuremburg trials (1945); Inauguration Day (every four years).
21 North Carolina ratifies the Constitution (1789); Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia is sworn in as the first woman Senator, serving for only one day (1922).
22 John F. Kennedy assassinated (1963).
23 Abigail Adam born (1744); Repudiation Day (Frederick County, Maryland, refuses to obey Stamp Act, 1765); Franklin Pierce born (1804).
24 Zachary Taylor born (1784); Scott Joplin born (1868); “Hollywood Ten” cited for contempt of Congress (1947); Jack Ruby kills Lee Harvey Oswald (1963).
25 British evacuate New York (1783); NBC, the first radio network, begins broadcasting (1926).
26 First public streetcar begins operation in New York City (1832); Casablanca opens (1942).
27 Robert R. Livingston born (1746); Boston Massacre trials begin (1770).
28 US Navy established (1775); Grand Ole Opry first broadcast on radio (1925).
29 Louisa May Alcott born (1832).
30 British sign Articles of Peace (1782); Mark Twain born (1835).
December
Winter Solstice
1 Rosa Parks arrested (1955).
2 British initiate policy of search without a warrant in Boston (1761); Dedication of Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI, the first in America (1763); Senator Joseph R. McCarthy censured by the Senate for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute" (1954) .
3 First official US flag raised, on the USS Alfred (1775); Illinois enters the Union (1818).
4 Six British soldiers are acquitted and two convicted of manslaughter in the Boston Massacre (1770); George Washington delivers his Farewell Address (1783); American Anti-Slavery Society founded (1833).
5 Martin van Buren born (1782); Walt Disney born (1901); 21st Amendment repealed (1933).
6 Washington monument completed (1884); 13th Amendment ratified (1865).
7 Delaware is first state to ratify the Constitution (1787); Pearl Harbor Day (1941).
8 John Lennon is killed (1980).
9
10 Mississippi enters the Union (1817); Emily Dickenson born (1830); Women first given right to vote, in Wyoming Territory (1869).
11 Indiana enters the Union (1816).
12 John Jay, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, born (1745); Pennsylvania ratifies Constitution (1787); Washington, DC, established as national capital (1800); Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina is sworn in as the first black member of Congress (1870).
13
14 Washington dies (1799); Alabama enters the Union (1819).
15 Bill of Rights adopted (1791).
16 Boston Tea Party (1773).
17 First airplane flight (1903).
18 New Jersey ratifies the Constitution (1787); 13th Amendment ratified (1865).
19 Poor Richard’s Almanack begins publication (1732); Thomas Paine publishes The American Crisis (1776).
20 Louisiana Territory handed over to the US by France (1803).
21 Landing of Pilgrims (1620).
22
23 Washington resigns as commander of the army (1783).
24 The Treaty of Ghent ends the War of 1812 (1814).
25 The first regularly scheduled passenger train in the United States begins (1830); Christmas.
26 Washington crosses the Delaware (1776).
27
28 Iowa enters the Union (1846); Woodrow Wilson born (1856) .
29 Andrew Johnson born (1808); Texas enters the Union (1845); Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890).
30 Gadsden Purchase signed (1853).
31 New Year’s Eve.
Dec. 26 – Jan 1 Kwanzaa.
A Tuesday in February or March – Mardi Gras.
A Sunday between March 22 and April 25 – Easter.
World Series.
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